2017 Award Nomination Title of Innovation: STEM-Corrosion TM for Online Training and Industry Benchmark

Transcription

1 2017 Award Nomination Title of Innovation: STEM-Corrosion TM for Online Training and Industry Benchmark Nominee(s) Sankara Papavinasam President CorrMagnet Consulting Inc. 6 Castlemore Street Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2G 6K8 Category: Integrity assessment Dates of Innovation Development: From: April, 2014 To: Aug Web site: Summary Description: The innovation consists of three (3) unique aspects: A template (Fig. 1) of 50 key performance indicators (KPIs) to effectively and efficiently control corrosion of oil and gas infrastructures. These KPIs were developed based on scientific analysis, industry survey, industry best practices, and 1,000+ international (including 100+ NACE) standards. An online course to disseminate knowledge of the 50-KPI template. In the course, the participants learn the scientific fundamentals of corrosion, practical engineering decisions made to implement corrosion control, and importance of risk and financial considerations in the implementation of corrosion control in real world. This 42-hour online course has so far been offered three times and has been attended by over 70 participants from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, India, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Spain, The UK, The USA, and Venezuela. An industry benchmark to indicate current status of corrosion control and 1

2 corrosion. The current industry benchmark of oil and gas industry (Fig. 1) has been developed based on implementation of the 50-KPI template by 10 online course participants in oil and gas production pipelines, steam-assisted gravitational drainage (SAGD) oilsands production system, raisers, oil transmission pipelines, gas transmission pipelines, above-ground storage tanks, and product pipelines. These infrastructures are located in Argentina, Canada, Colombia, India, The USA, and Venezuela. This innovation (integrated 50-KPI template, online course, and industry benchmark) is effective to indicate status of corrosion control in an industry and to improve its performance as well as to educate next-generation corrosion professionals on all aspects of corrosion. Figure 1: Oil and Gas Industry Corrosion Control Benchmark (Current oil and gas industry score for corrosion control is 60% and that for corrosion is 40% indicating that corrosion control slightly dominates and hence the asset is only relatively safe from corrosion. Colors of the KPIs indicate the success of their implementation. Green means good, yellow means fair and means poor ). 2

3 Full Description: 1. What is the innovation? The innovation is the development, testing, and validation of an integrated 50-KPI template, online course, and industry benchmark tool. A quantitative, comprehensive, cost-effective, and user-friendly template of 50 key performance indicators (KPIs) has been developed for implementing effective and economical corrosion control strategies. This template quickly evaluates and readily displays the status of KPI implementation (Fig. 1). To disseminate the scientific, engineering, and management basis of this 50 KPI template, a 42- hour online course has been designed. This online course has so far been offered three times with 70 participants from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, India, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Spain, The UK, The USA, and Venezuela. Based on evaluation of the applicability of this 50 KPI template by online course participants (as part of the course assignment) - using data from in various sectors of oil and gas industry (including oil and gas production pipelines, steam-assisted gravitational drainage (SAGD) oilsands production system, raisers, oil transmission pipelines, gas transmission pipelines, aboveground storage tanks, and product pipelines) - an industry benchmark (Fig. 1) has been established. This industry benchmark readily displays the current status of corrosion control. If corrosion control dominates, risk due to corrosion is low, and if corrosion dominates risk from it is high and failures may occur/be imminent. For example, Fig. 1 indicates that the corrosion control score (60%) is slightly better than corrosion score (40%) in the oil and gas industry. Thus, this template provides a single page visual display on the status of corrosion control and corrosion in a given segment/sector/industry. This industry benchmark can be continuously be updated as more people use this template, more participants attend the STEM-Corrosion TM online course, and more people/companies share their corrosion control scores. This innovation (integrated 50-KPI template, online course, and industry benchmark) brings benefits in three fronts: The 50-KPI template will help companies to focus their energy/efforts on appropriate activities/initiatives to control corrosion without increasing cost. The online course will help next generation corrosion professionals, young professionals, and novice to understand the scientific, engineering, and management aspects of corrosion control using the 50-KPI template. It will also be useful for experienced professionals to refresh their knowledge. 3

4 The industry benchmark will help the companies to compare their status of corrosion control with those of other companies from around the world. This innovation has already been applied to oil and gas industry and can be adopted for other industries. 2. How does the innovation work? Step 1: A quantitative, comprehensive, cost-effective, and user-friendly template of 50 key performance indicators (KPIs) for implementing effective and economical corrosion control strategies is available (Fig. 1). Step 2: To educate the scientific, engineering, and management aspects of the 50-KPI template, the online course is available. Neither travel nor fixed time is required to attend this online course. Only a computer with internet connection is required to gain knowledge and interact with professionals around the world! This online training is very useful for young professionals, engineers in training (EIT), and students who are interested to join the industry as well as for experienced professionals who may like to refresh their knowledge. Step 3: Using the template (step 1) and knowledge (Step 2), the user reviews the status of each KPI in the unit, segment, or sector of their interest and assigns a score* or picks a color. Score 0: Not applicable (Blue) Score 1-2: Good (Green) Score 2-4: Fair (Yellow) Score 4-5: Poor (Red) *By default the score ranges between 0 and 5 but it can be modified by user. Step 4: Based on individual scores (established in Step 3) of 50 KPIs, the Corrosion Control and Corrosion scores are calculated as follows: Maximum overall KPI score is 250 [50 (KPIs) x 5 (maximum score for each KPI)] Overall KPI score is the sum of individual KPI scores (calculated in Step 3) From the overall KPI score and maximum overall KPI score, percentage scores for corrosion and corrosion control are calculated. For example, if the overall KPI score for an asset is 100, then corrosion control score is 60% and corrosion score is 40%. In this example, corrosion control slightly dominates, hence the asset is only relatively safe from corrosion. 4

5 Step 5: Step 4 may be carried out for all assets within a company to understand their corrosion and corrosion control status, and the average of corrosion control and corrosion scores can be determined and used as Company benchmark. Step 4 may be carried out for various assets within an industry to establish Industry benchmark. Figure 1 displays current Industry benchmark of oil and gas industry (based on 10 case studies). Step 6: Step 5 may be repeated and the benchmark can be updated/refined. Though this innovation has been developed, tested, and validated in the oil and gas industry, it can be adopted and applied to any industry and can be used as an educational tool in academic institutes. Obviously the template can be modified by deleting non-relevant KPIs and/or by adding additional KPIs that are relevant to a particular industry. 3. Describe the corrosion problem or technological gap that sparked the development of the innovation? How does the innovation improve upon existing methods/technologies to address this corrosion problem or provide a new solution to bridge the technology gap? A few years ago, a group of non-corrosion professionals concluded that crude oils are corrosive under oil transmission pipeline operating conditions without valid data and explanation. Even though there was unanimous understanding among corrosion professionals that crude oil is noncorrosive under oil transmission pipeline operating conditions, it was difficult to readily educate non-corrosion professionals and environmental groups. Subsequently, National Academy of Science (NAS), USA conducted an inquiry in which several NACE members participated and appeared as subject matter experts; NACE conference (NACE Northern Area Eastern Conference, Toronto, 2012) on this topic was held; and a NACE proceedings book (Corrosivity of Crude Oil under Pipeline Operating Conditions) was published. Eventually corrosion professionals were able to convince non-corrosion professionals that crude oil was noncorrosive under oil transmission pipeline operating conditions. Reflection of these events indicated that no tool is available with corrosion professionals to readily disclose and easily communicate their success on corrosion control. The first aspect of this innovation addresses this gap through the development of 50-KPI template. This aspect is useful not only to implement properly corrosion control strategies but also to exhibit that due intelligence has been exercised in the implementation. NACE International IMPACT study identified that, E&T course content is heavily focused on the lower levels of the CMS Pyramid; i.e., Procedures and Working Practices and there is essentially no content geared for the upper levels of Policy, Strategy, and Objectives. E&T will 5

6 play an important role in the integration of corrosion management into an organization s management system. In addition, these programs must prepare corrosion professionals to better communicate to those outside of the profession. Corrosion professionals should not expect outsiders to learn their technical language. [E&T: education and training and CMS: Corrosion Management System]. The second aspect of this innovation addresses this gap through the development of online course. The 42-hour online course describes the 50 KPIs; elaborates scientific, engineering and management (including risk and financial) aspects of corrosion control; provides a structured environment for participants to comprehend, digest, and appreciate real/practical aspects of corrosion control; directs them in the right path to obtain further and detailed information (i.e., international standards including those of NACE International); requires the participants to write assignment based on actual data from operating oil and gas companies; and encourages them to incorporate cost of corrosion (financial) aspects in their assignment. Whenever there is a small gas leak occurs and oil spill happens, nowadays it appears in the front page of newspapers and it becomes the trending event in the social media. This leads some to believe that leaks, accidents, and breaks due to corrosion are norm. In reality, corrosion incidences are exception rather than norm and occur only when known corrosion control best practices are not properly implemented. Therefore a tool is required to indicate the status of corrosion control vs corrosion. The third aspect of this innovation addresses this gap through the development of industry benchmark. The industry benchmark will enable companies to compare their corrosion control best practices with those of other companies, assist the companies to meet a minimum standard, and facilitate the industry as a whole to achieve zero incidence due to corrosion target. 4. Has the innovation been tested in the laboratory or in the field? If so, please describe any tests or field demonstrations and the results that support the capability and feasibility of the innovation. The development, testing, and validation of this innovation would not have been possible without support and leadership of several corrosion professionals especially the 30 reviewers of the book; 10 online course participants who wrote the assignments; mentors who assisted some course participants in writing their assignments; oil and gas companies who provided their data; and 11 oil and gas professionals who reviewed the assignments. Applicability of the innovation was explicitly evaluated through the STEM-Corrosion TM online course. This online course has so far been offered three times. Seventy (70) participants ranging 6

7 from field technologists, bachelors students, master students, Ph.D. students, engineers in training (EIT), consultants, to senior corrosion professionals participated in this online course from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, India, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Spain, The UK, The USA, and Venezuela. All course presentations and discussions were recorded and were available to the participants. Salient features of 2016 course participants feedback are presented in Tables 1 through 4. To explain the details of the 50-KPI template, the STEM-Corrosion TM online course was divided into four (4) terms: Science, Engineering (internal corrosion), Engineering (external corrosion), and Management terms. During the course, the participants learned the scientific fundamentals of corrosion, the practical engineering decisions made to implement corrosion control, and the importance of risk and financial considerations in the implementation of corrosion control in real world. After the course, participants wrote assignments on the applicability of the 50-KPI template in the oil and gas industry sector of their choice. They interacted with oil and gas company personal and collected data from their respective sectors. The 10 assignments written so far covered oil and gas production pipelines, steam-assisted gravitational drainage (SAGD) oilsands production system, raisers, oil transmission pipelines, gas transmission pipelines, above-ground storage tanks, and product pipelines. These infrastructures (from which data were collected to write the assignments) were located in Argentina, Canada, Colombia, India, The USA, and Venezuela. Each assignment was then reviewed by at least three independent industry experts (80 % of the reviewers are currently working as corrosion professionals in the oil and gas companies). The reviewers evaluated the ability of participants to grasp the scientific, engineering, and management aspects of corrosion and the ability of 50-KPI template to track implementation of effective and economical corrosion control strategies. Based on reviewers feedback the assignments were approved and categorized as: Excellent, Very good, Good, and Fair. Based on the scores of KPIs in the 10 approved assignments, an industry benchmark on the current status of corrosion control was established (Fig. 1). This benchmark score should be considered preliminary as it is based only on 10 case studies. It can continuously be updated as more online course participants complete their assignments (additional 5 assignments are being completed by 2016 online course participants) and more companies share their corrosion control scores. 7

8 Table 1: Salient Features of Feedback from 2016 STEM-Corrosion TM Online Course Participants No. Question Percentage agreement 1 The course provided useful information on scientific aspects of corrosion control in the oil and gas industry 97 2 As a consequence of attending this term, my knowledge on corrosion and its control has increased 95 3 Instructor is knowledgeable in the field Instructor s delivery style and method is appropriate 93 5 Given the constraints of workload, travel restriction, and other commitments, online course such as this is the way forward to 98 share knowledge 6 I will recommend this Online course to my colleagues and friends Contents are unique to this Online course Trivia questions during social hours (before each class) are useful in understanding the topic of the class 98 Table 2: Feedback from 2016 STEM-Corrosion TM Online Course Participants on the Usefulness of Materials Presented Module Question: Materials presented are useful for me Percentage agreement 1 Oil and gas industry Overview 93 2 Oil and gas industry Network 94 3 Materials (Metals and Non-metals) 94 4 Main environmental factors affecting corrosion 96 5 Mechanisms 96 6 Internal corrosion Model 96 7 Internal corrosion Mitigation 94 8 Internal corrosion Monitoring 93 9 External corrosion Mitigation External corrosion Model External corrosion Monitoring Measurement Maintenance Management 93 OVERALL 96 8

9 Table 3: Things the 2016 STEM-Corrosion TM Online Course Participants Liked The way of teaching and example - one of remarkable Easily understandable Well explained Recommendations / references provided on slides to refer for more explanations Communication, Depth of knowledge, Commitment, and Presentation Instructor is clear and expert about the area of course Participants are active I learned a lot of things on oil and gas industry corrosion It is a complete, excellent, and important course for any person who works in the oil and gas industry I liked this course. It was a complete course with very useful information about corrosion, its mechanism and its control in the industry. Very good course The information provided in the course are very useful and enhanced my knowledge. The information were further well-explained by the instructor. Dr Sankara Papavinasam s class is very useful; I am in final stage of Ph.D. It is a very good online course for me. Table 4: Things the 2016 Participants Liked about the Online Nature of the STEM- Corrosion TM Course Good online course similar to class room I can watch the missed classes I can watch the classes again if I want to remember or clarify something I can go back (rewind) to re-listen to a specific topic We can access to the course from any part of the world I can take the course wherever I have Internet access. In some cases, only phone access needed. Course materials are available online, any time. Class session is recorded for later review. No need to take notes. It is most convenient way of learning the course on your own phase I do not need to leave my home or work I could meet people from different countries with the same interest in corrosion control Sharing of knowledge with participants from various locations 5. How can the innovation be incorporated into existing corrosion prevention and control activities and how does it benefit the industry/industries it serves (i.e., does it provide a cost and/or time savings; improve an inspection, testing, or data collection process; help to extend the service life of assets or corrosion-control systems, etc.)? This 50-KPI template quickly evaluates and readily displays the status of implementation of effective and economically corrosion control strategies. This template can be incorporated into 9

10 the companies corrosion control documents, asset integrity management (AIM) documents, pipeline integrity management (PIM) documents, or can be used as a standalone tool. The corrosion control best practices must be based on sound scientific basis, good engineering practices, and economical management approaches. The online nature of STEM-Corrosion TM course easily and effectively disseminates the knowledge without travel and overheads. For example, 25 participants attending a 10-day onsite course will incur a total expenditure of $100,000 (assuming course registration of $1,000, travel cost of $1,000, accommodation cost of $1,000, and food and incidental charges of $1,000 per participant). The same 25 participants attending the same course online will only incur $11,000 (assuming course registration fee of $ 1,000 each, and about 1,000 for phone and online meeting charges). Innovative method of teaching in STEM-Corrosion TM online course (such as social hours, trivia questions, discussion time, and video sharing) brings many real time class social experience in the online course. For example, past online course participants enjoyed a marriage ceremony in India, followed a participant s across-the-usa road trip, experienced how hot it can be in Argentina around new year, tracked leaf color change in Virginia, understood the making of Hallacas popular Venezuelan Christmas treat, celebrated many events (including Thanksgiving, Memorial day, May day, Labor day, Victoria day), and enjoyed many other fun events. Development of Industry benchmark will enable comparison of status of corrosion control in a company with that of other companies from around the world and will allow identification of opportunities for further improvement. Alternatively, development of company benchmark will enable comparison of the status of corrosion control of various equipment and operation within a company. 6. Is the innovation commercially available? If yes, how long has it been utilized? If not, what is the next step in making the innovation commercially available? What are the challenges, if any, that may affect further development or use of this innovation and how could they be overcome? Yes. The first aspect of the innovation (50-KPI template) is available through the book, Corrosion Control in the Oil and Gas Industry, Elsevier (2013). This book may be obtained from several sources including: or This 1,020-page book provides a quantitative, comprehensive, cost-effective, and user-friendly 50-KPI template for designing and implementing corrosion control strategies. 10

11 This book groups corrosion control strategies into five categories: modelling, mitigation, monitoring, maintenance, and management. It then discusses KPIs associated with each category; refers to more than 1,000 international standards (including 100+ NACE standards) for understanding technical aspects of the KPIs; and describes procedures for numerically scoring each KPI. The second aspect of the innovation is the STEM-Corrosion TM online course was first offered in and the next course (fourth time) will be offered from April 24, More course information and registration are available at: The online course includes corrosion science, corrosion engineering, and corrosion management aspects; covers modelling, mitigation, monitoring, maintenance, and management of both internal corrosion (including sulphide stress cracking and hydrogen induced cracking) and external corrosion (including stress corrosion cracking); elaborates the 50 KPIs that are required to effectively and economically control corrosion; and involves individual assignment using real field data. The third aspect (Industry benchmark or company benchmark) of the innovation is available through STEM-Corrosion TM software which is being developed and will commercially be available in Fall The industry benchmark or company benchmark may also manually be developed, as demonstrated by online course participants who wrote the assignments. However, the development of the software will reduce the processing time. 7. Are there any patents related to this work? If yes, please provide the patent title, number, and inventor.150 No. But the STEM-Corrosion TM is trade mark protected (Canadian Trademark number: 1,679,433). 11